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What's Next on the School Force Food Agenda? School District Bans Ice Cream

School District Bans PTA Ice Cream Sales

A New Jersey school district has ordered the PTA to stop selling ice
cream to students on campus because the longtime fundraising violates
state and federal law.

For years the PTA in Parsippany, New Jersey sold ice cream once a
week on campuses across the district. The money was used to fund
cultural arts programs and field trips for the students.

But earlier this week, the district superintendent sent a letter to
the group informing the parents that those tiny cups of ice cream could
no longer be sold on campus.

“We don’t know the full extent of the issue, but the PTA cannot sell
ice cream during our lunch time hour,” PTA president Liz Kadian told Fox
News. “It’s disturbing to many parents.”

Supt. LeRoy Seitz told Fox News that the district has no choice in the matter.

“While we fully understand that our students enjoyed the PTA ice
cream fundraisers in the past and that the ice cream sale fundraiser was
very successful for our PTAs, we cannot approve activities, including
PTA ice cream sales that are in violation of state regulations,” he said
in a statement.

The law forbids any food sale fundraising efforts during the “hours when our school nutritional program is in operation.”

“It is unfortunate that we cannot permit the PTA ice cream sales
during the hours that lunch is being served and again, we have asked our
principales to work with his or her PTA to find other opportunities to
fundraise that are in compliance with state regulations,” he said.

“I think it’s ridiculous and a majority of the parents feel the same way,” Kadian told Fox News. “It’s a once-a-week treat.”

Dozens of parents are voicing their extreme displeasure about the new ice cream ban on the Parsippany Patch website.

“I can only imagine what will be next,” one parent wrote. “Will the
school board start checking lunch boxes making sure that parents did not
pack too many Twinkies or yodels?”

“Whether it is federal, state or local government-mandated, another
piece of childhood innocence is being taken away,” another parent wrote.
“How sad that an elementary school child can’t look forward to buying
something as simple as an ice cream bar once a week.”

Last week more than 1,000 students at Parsippany Hills High School
staged a strike against the cafeteria to protest federal guidelines
governing portion size. As a result, a number of parents are now packing
lunches for their children.

Kadian said she understands the USDA’s concerns over healthy lunches –
but she noted that the ice cream they sold met state guidelines. The
ice cream cups contained about four bites of – and the ice pops were
sugar-free.

Teachers also used the weekly ice cream sale as an incentive –
offering students the chance to earn certificates for a free treat.

But Kadian said the bigger issue is fundraising. Without the ice cream sales, many student activities could be jeopardized.

You know if the schools/ first lady really cared about school lunches, processed crap food would be off menu, and the lunch ladies would actually be making real food for lunch.

Not smaller portions of crappy processed food, but real homecooked food. Its not rocket science, its common sense.

Michelle Obama is barking up the wrong tree.

This kind of thing has been happening in schools here for years--before Michelle Obama was First Lady. For years, moms have not been allowed to bring home made treats to school for their kids' Birthdays, for example. No peanuts ....all of this stuff has been happening for about 7 or 8 years.School lunch menus have changed a lot over the decades. But its not all Michelle's fault...sorry about that.

You know if the schools/ first lady really cared about school lunches, processed crap food would be off menu, and the lunch ladies would actually be making real food for lunch.

Not smaller portions of crappy processed food, but real homecooked food. Its not rocket science, its common sense.

Michelle Obama is barking up the wrong tree.

This kind of thing has been happening in schools here for years--before Michelle Obama was First Lady. For years, moms have not been allowed to bring home made treats to school for their kids' Birthdays, for example. No peanuts ....all of this stuff has been happening for about 7 or 8 years.School lunch menus have changed a lot over the decades. But its not all Michelle's fault...sorry about that.

Its part of what schools do.

Deal with it.

Since she is now the food police.. it looks like she would be all over the processed food in lunchrooms. She attacked McDonalds, so it looks like she'd be advocating for fresh healthy food for school kids. I am for junk in the lunchrooms at all. I think we should be feeding these kids real food, made fresh, instead of less of the frozen processed crap. I am actually one of those people who think that they kids should only get white milk, instead of the sugary milk they can choose.

Yeah, I graduated from a Fl high school. I normally ate the Pizza (from Pizza hut.. a buck a slice) until something Bush put into effect caused it to stop.. not sure what it was though.. that is just what we were told

Quoting tooptimistic:

Here in Florida, the kids are still served processed crap.. Now just smaller portions of processed crap.

Quoting Sekirei:

The schools here in hawaii do make their own food.... very little of it is prepackaged. (Other than the fruit pops and fish nuggets... which are rarely eaten anyway)

ETA: and the move to stop 'junkfood' at school started while I was in High School.. back in the 90's

Quoting tooptimistic:

You know if the schools/ first lady really cared about school lunches, processed crap food would be off menu, and the lunch ladies would actually be making real food for lunch.

Not smaller portions of crappy processed food, but real homecooked food. Its not rocket science, its common sense.

I actually would. There are some things that I hate my taxes going to, but this one I would gladly pay for. Our school lunch are almost $3 a day and right now I'm paying for pretzels and chicken nuggets. Ugg....hate out school menu. I would gladly pay a little more for my kids to have a better lunch. But, until they do, we make their lunches.

Quoting futureshock:

Quoting tooptimistic:

You know if the schools/ first lady really cared about school lunches, processed crap food would be off menu, and the lunch ladies would actually be making real food for lunch.

Not smaller portions of crappy processed food, but real homecooked food. Its not rocket science, its common sense.

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